Race and Social Media on Campus: Do Hashtags Help?

June 2, 2014By Dave Breitenstein of the News-Press for EWA

Sit-ins were the preferred avenue of protest on college campuses
during the 1960s and 1970s. Students protested in support of
civil rights and opposition to war, and their actions sparked
social, legal and cultural changes nationwide. As recently as
last year, the Dream Defenders spent 31 days camped in the
Florida capitol to protest criminal justice issues.

Sit-ins take time, though – time to organize, time for the sit-in
to transpire and time to have an impact.

The new protest can be as quick as typing a hashtag into Twitter.
Enter #BBUM –
Being Black at the University of Michigan. The university’s Black
Student Union launched #BBUM to hear experiences directly from
students – positive and negative. It went viral. Thousands of
#BBUM tweets came in rapid succession, and the administration
heard it loud and clear: “Thanks for engaging in this
conversation. We’re listening, and will be sure all of your
voices are heard. #BBUM” tweeted the official @umich Twitter
account.

Concerns were plentiful. Just 4.65 percent of undergraduates last
fall were black. The Black Student Union’s budget was miniscule.
A multicultural center was an inadequate venue to serve students.

In a panel at EWA’s 67th National Seminar, held last month in
Nashville at Vanderbilt University, Michigan student leader
Shayla Scales explained that the movement grew from concerns of
black students to concerns of all students.

“We were fighting for all groups, not just one,” Scales told
dozens of reporters during the seminar session.

A few months and 2 million – yes, 2 million – #BBUM-related
tweets later, the BSU released a list of seven demands to
administration based on the feedback it collected:

Financial: Provide an equal opportunity to implement change
by increasing the BSU budget;

Housing: Make on-campus housing affordable for students with
lower socio-economic status;

Community: Construct a new multicultural center on campus so
students can congregate and share experiences;

History: Provide education about America’s historical
treatment and marginalization of some races and ethnicities;

Scholarships: Offer emergency scholarships for black students
in need of financial support;

Documents: Increase exposure of all documents in the
historical library and be more transparent about the university’s
history of race relations;

Representation: Diversify enrollment so black students equal
10 percent of the student body.

The university’s administration not only listened, Scales said,
but also acted. Student leaders entered into negotiations, almost
like union leaders coming to the table with a list of bargaining
points. The group finished negotiations just before the spring
term ended, but with a new president taking the helm, Scales is
hopeful the two parties will continue to make progress.

Aside from national media attention, Michigan students began to
see a movement nationally and internationally from various
groups. Students at UCLA, Harvard, Oxford and others have been in
touch, and their online postings have covered all forms of social
media, YouTube and other sites.

“Now it’s this international connection where we can Skype, and
we can call,” said Scales, adding that campuses have shared game
plans and negotiation strategies. “That, more than anything,
leads us to a positive future.”

Scales is stepping aside from the movement now that she’s a
graduate. With startup funding from the university, Scales
created her own company in 2013 called InControl Wear Inc.

Michigan’s BSU treasurer, Robert Greenfield, was slated to
appear at the EWA seminar, but had to cancel due to a family
emergency.